Gareth Bale scored twice as Real Madrid recovered from two consecutive league defeats to beat Rayo Vallecano 5-0 on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid remain top of Primera Liga as they came from behind away to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1, while Barcelona rounded off a fine week by overcoming stiff resistance from local rivals Espanyol to win 1-0 thanks to a late Lionel Messi penalty.
Victory for all three title contenders means that Atletico maintain their one point lead over Barcelona with Real a further two points adrift in third.
Bale also teed up Cristiano Ronaldo to open the scoring at the Bernabeu as the Portuguese continued his run of scoring in each of his last 10 games for club and country by bursting past two Rayo defenders before slotting low into the corner.
Karim Benzema then failed to connect with an open goal to aim at and Bale also passed up a huge chance as he kicked the ground when attempting to chip Ruben Martinez.
Dani Carvajal eventually made the game safe when he registered his first goal for the club from Ronaldo’s cut-back 10 minutes after half-time.
Bale then took over as he tapped home Angel di Maria’s unselfish cross before running half the length of the field to slot home his 16th goal of the season to make it 4-0.
And Alvaro Morata rounded off the rout with a fine curling effort 12 minutes from time.
“We reacted well after two defeats,” said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti.
“We played well and our attitude was good, which will serve us well for the next game.
“Obviously, we could have been in a better position at this point in the season, but mentally I think we reacted well today and can look forward with optimism.”
It was a far tougher day for Atletico and Barca as they had to grind out difficult wins away from home.
Atletico got off to the worst possible start as Aritz Aduriz cushioned a long ball into Iker Muniain’s path and he sent a perfectly weighted lob over Thibaut Courtois and just under the crossbar.
Diego Costa had a chance to reply soon after as he was played in by Koke, but his shot was too close to Gorka Iraizoz and the keeper parried the ball to safety.
The Spanish international made amends with a similar chance nine minutes later when he was again sent through on goal by Koke and this time finished low into the far corner for his 33rd goal of the season.
Costa was left cursing his luck twice in quick succession at the start of the second period as he raced onto another long ball and shot inches wide before being clearly tripped by Aymeric Laporte inside the area, but the referee waved away his penalty claims.
Atletico did get the game’s all-important third goal, though, as Costa fed Filipe Luis on the left and his cross was headed home at close range by Koke.
Courtois was forced into one brilliant save from a towering header by Aduriz as Athletic pressed for an equaliser.
But they couldn’t find a way through and the hosts finished the game with 10 men as Laporte saw a second yellow card for chopping down Costa five minutes from time.
Barcelona were also made to work for the three points as Messi scored the only goal from the spot 14 minutes from time after Javi Lopez was adjudged to have handled inside the area.
Espanyol were then reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Kiko Casilla saw a straight red card for blocking Messi’s goalbound effort with his hands outside the area.
“Derbies are always the same and you have to win them,” said a relieved Barca boss Gerardo Martino.
“It doesn’t come easy and they are always tight games, for that reason this was a risky away game for us and we value the three points even more.”
Barca now firmly have the destiny of the title in their own hands as they host Atletico on the final day of the season.
However, the Argentine is taking nothing for granted after suffering a shock defeat to relegation threatened Valladolid earlier this month.
“What is left continues to be very difficult and very important. We still have seven finals left between now and the end of the league season and in those games we will also have with us the memory of our defeat in Valladolid.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
What should do investors do now?
What does the S&P 500's new all-time high mean for the average investor?
Should I be euphoric?
No. It's fine to be pleased about hearty returns on your investments. But it's not a good idea to tie your emotions closely to the ups and downs of the stock market. You'll get tired fast. This market moment comes on the heels of last year's nosedive. And it's not the first or last time the stock market will make a dramatic move.
So what happened?
It's more about what happened last year. Many of the concerns that triggered that plunge towards the end of last have largely been quelled. The US and China are slowly moving toward a trade agreement. The Federal Reserve has indicated it likely will not raise rates at all in 2019 after seven recent increases. And those changes, along with some strong earnings reports and broader healthy economic indicators, have fueled some optimism in stock markets.
"The panic in the fourth quarter was based mostly on fears," says Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. "The fundamentals have mostly held up, while the fears have gone away and the fears were based mostly on emotion."
Should I buy? Should I sell?
Maybe. It depends on what your long-term investment plan is. The best advice is usually the same no matter the day — determine your financial goals, make a plan to reach them and stick to it.
"I would encourage (investors) not to overreact to highs, just as I would encourage them not to overreact to the lows of December," Mr Schutte says.
All the same, there are some situations in which you should consider taking action. If you think you can't live through another low like last year, the time to get out is now. If the balance of assets in your portfolio is out of whack thanks to the rise of the stock market, make adjustments. And if you need your money in the next five to 10 years, it shouldn't be in stocks anyhow. But for most people, it's also a good time to just leave things be.
Resist the urge to abandon the diversification of your portfolio, Mr Schutte cautions. It may be tempting to shed other investments that aren't performing as well, such as some international stocks, but diversification is designed to help steady your performance over time.
Will the rally last?
No one knows for sure. But David Bailin, chief investment officer at Citi Private Bank, expects the US market could move up 5 per cent to 7 per cent more over the next nine to 12 months, provided the Fed doesn't raise rates and earnings growth exceeds current expectations. We are in a late cycle market, a period when US equities have historically done very well, but volatility also rises, he says.
"This phase can last six months to several years, but it's important clients remain invested and not try to prematurely position for a contraction of the market," Mr Bailin says. "Doing so would risk missing out on important portfolio returns."
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